Public Health On Call

How we talk about disability frames the way we view the importance of access. The Accessible Stall podcast co-hosts Emily Ladau and Kyle Kachadurian talk about disability a lot in episodes covering everything from pre-peeled fruit and lingerie to health care and ableism. Today, they join the podcast to talk with Lindsay Smith Rogers about why authentic representation of disability is so critical t...

An estimated 97,000 Black women and girls have gone missing or been murdered in the US in the last year—which represents about 40% of all missing persons. These women and girls are often viewed as criminals or runaways and not victims or survivors, which can hamstring efforts to find and support them. Dr. Tiara Willie , gender-based violence researcher, and Dr. Kamila Alexander , a nurse and traum...

Starting in January, 2024, every family with a new baby in Flint, Michigan will be eligible to receive cash payments for the first year of life. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha , the pediatrician who exposed the Flint water crisis in 2014, and Luke Shaefer , Michigan public policy professor, talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about how this effort came together and what it hopes to accomplish. Professor Schaefe...

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Institute for Global Tobacco Control was founded in 1998, and since then it has become a global leader in the efforts to end the tobacco epidemic. To highlight the Institute's 25th anniversary, Joanna Cohen , director of IGTC, and founding director  Jonathan Samet  talk to Stephanie Desmon about the past, present, and future fight against tobac...

A major bankruptcy case of Purdue Pharma—the makers of Oxycontin—now sits with the Supreme Court. How did it get there, and what's at stake? Andy Dietderich , an expert in bankruptcy law and co-head of finance and restructuring at New York law firm Sullivan and Cromwell, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about the case, the Sackler family's involvement, and what a SCOTUS decision could mean for futur...

Extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes, and more are driving huge changes for emergency managers like Chas Eby , the deputy executive director of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management. Eby talks with Stephanie Desmon about an "all-hazards" approach for emergency management agencies, and their work to be better problem solvers when it comes to what climate change is expected to bring in the...

Daily health care operations in the US account for 8.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Shanda Demorest is a cardiac nurse and Associate Director of Climate Engagement and Education at Health Care Without Harm. She takes Dr. Josh Sharfstein on a virtual tour of a hypothetical hospital, pointing out opportunities for sustainability. They discuss how, despite a lack of regulation, health care syste...

There's a bit of detective work that has to go into investigating outbreaks of foodborne illnesses, and your local health department plays a key role. Cari Sledzik , an epidemiologist in the Office of Acute Communicable Diseases at the Baltimore City Health Department, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what goes into piecing together a potential outbreak and what happens once the source is foun...

Methadone is a gold star treatment for opioid use disorder but it's heavily regulated at the federal level, making it hard for patients to get and even harder for doctors to prescribe. Dr. Brian Hurley , president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about the process of getting methadone, how its regulatory roots in legislation from the 1970s contribute t...

Hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to dust, debris, carcinogens, and trauma at the three sites of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the immediate aftermath and then the years following. In 2011, Congress created The World Trade Center Health Program to provide health care monitoring and treatment for certified health conditions at no cost to people directly affected.  Dr. John Howard , direc...

Many of us only hear about the juvenile justice system from the news in 30-second snippets. But Sam Abed , acting director of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services in Washington DC, has more to say. Abed talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about his work with juvenile justice and what he most wants people to know about the system and the young people who come through it.

Throughout the pandemic, a few medical professionals spread false and misleading information about COVID-19 and even touted potentially harmful "treatments" to their patients. But did they face consequences? Journalist Lena Sun talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about her Washington Post report looking at how medical professional boards handled—or dismissed—complaints about these doctors.

Part two of this series features Dr. Daniel Grossman , an obstretrician and gynecologist, and Dr. Katrina Kimport , a sociologist in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. They talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about their research documenting cases where patients were denied proper medical care because of abortion restrictions—even when the...

In part one of a two part series, Johns Hopkins demographic researcher Suzanne Bell talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about a new report quantifying the impacts of Texas's SB8, an extremely restrictive abortion bill that passed in 2021. They discuss how empirical evidence can help to illuminate the consequences of major legislation. Read more: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/analysis-suggests-2021...

Massive deadly fires, bleached coral reefs, extreme heat, ocean temps topping 100 degrees….have we reached a tipping point in climate change? Johns Hopkins planetary scientist Dr. Ben Zaitchik returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about recent headline-grabbing climate events and whether or not they signal a critical threshold for the health of the planet. They discuss how we can co...

Legalizing medical cannabis may have paved the way for recreational use in many states, but what is actually known about cannabis as a medical treatment? Dr. Johannes Thrul , a Johns Hopkins substance use researcher, talks with Lindsay Smith Rogers about why there are huge gaps in research of the risks and benefits of cannabis, and how legalization might create new opportunities to finally get som...

Principal Matt Hornbeck of Hampstead Hill Academy, an award-winning public K-8 school in Baltimore City, returns to the podcast to talk with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about gearing up for school. They discuss how students fared academically last year—and how the school is preparing to address chronic absenteeism and mental health challenges this fall.

As life expectancy slips in the US, what can we do differently to improve overall well-being and health? For one thing: start paying for health care differently. Dr. Mai Pham , physician and president and CEO of the Institute for Exceptional Care, talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about a new report from the National Academy of Medicine on the opportunity of innovation in payment: What if health insu...

Outdoor air quality is a major concern but what about the safety of the air we breathe indoors in public spaces like schools and offices? Dr. Gigi Gronvall of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security returns to the podcast to talk with Stephanie Desmon about the threats of poor indoor air quality including spreading infectious diseases and particulate matter, and a new framework for states to...

During the pandemic, it became clear that America's vast and complex food system has weak spots and needs help from farm to table to be more resilient to shocks and stressors. Elsie Moore , a Johns Hopkins PhD candidate and researcher at the Center for a Livable Future talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about this "resiliency concept" and how some jurisdictions are thinking through their capacity to m...

Last summer, Lifeline transitioned away from a 10-digit national suicide prevention number to the three-digit 988 line in hopes of making it easier for people experiencing a mental health crisis to call and text. One year after its launch, guest host Dan Gorenstein of the Tradeoffs podcast talks about the crisis line's successes and where it's fallen short.

More than three years after COVID first shuttered schools, researchers are taking stock of how children are doing academically. Hopkins biostatistician Elizabeth Stuart speaks with Stephanie Desmon about their research about learning gaps and why it's so important to invest in regaining lost ground while still letting kids be kids. She also explains how this data can help inform difficult policy d...

What can we learn from depictions of pandemics in films and series like The Last of Us, I Am Legend, and Contagion? Dylan George , director of the new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics at the CDC, recently participated in a panel at Awesome Con to discuss these and other depictions of dystopian realities in media. Dr. George talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about what these iconic pieces...

If a product is available for sale, it's probably safe. Right? Not so fast. Taplines podcast host Dave Infante talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about Four Loko, the popular caffeinated alcoholic drink from a decade ago, and his role as Deputy Commissioner of the FDA during the agency's analysis of the safety of the beverage. This podcast was originally released by VinePair and the full video can be...

ChatGPT has lots of potential for use in public health, but how well does it actually perform? Public Health On Call intern Caroline Wang and Lindsay Smith Rogers discuss three potential uses—seeking personal medical advice, public health research for students, and as a practical resource for practitioners. They go over some specific prompts and analyze what the chatbot does well and where it's li...